Gundam Revolution
by nightbringer360
Summary: [Original AU] In the far future, the World League organisation battles against the ruling colonial Zatin combine for liberation. The latest weapon to be deployed in the struggle the revolutionary Echo Gundam! Ch.'s 3 and 4 are up, please R&R!
1. Prelude

Note: All material in this fiction is my property, except for those terms which are already property of Bandai Entertainment and Sotsu Agency/Sunrise. A big thank you to Yoshiyuki Tomino-sama for creating such a wonderful and inspirational series!

This is my own AU, and written as such. However, for those of you who subscribe to the Turn A Bang theory that all the Gundam universes are linked, I have included subtle references to Turn A itself as I have intended for this AU to be set two thousand years after Turn A.

Some of you may also notice that there are parallels in this fiction. I have also inserted a bit of my own political commentary, so don't interpret some of the things presented as fact. It is only my opinion.

**Prelude**

The year is Colonial Time 203. Over two hundred years after the colonial commercial combine of ZATIN, the Zoroaster Astral Trade and Information Network, declared themselves independent and waged the great War of Liberation. During this war, they used the power of high technology, in the form of mobile suits, to seize their victory over the Earth United Nations (EUN). In doing so, they carved out a commercial empire that would span Earth, the moon, and the asteroid belts from which resources for the colonies were taken. With the signing of the Treaty of Hue, the Earth United Nations essentially became puppet governments. Over time, the control that ZATIN over the various Earth states had degraded, but they kept control by means of diplomacy, economic measures, and espionage. If necessary, they stepped in, using their technological superiority, and their new battle strength, the mobile armour. Faster, more maneuverable than mobile suits, their shape also didn't matter very much, whereas mobile suits always had to conform to vaguely humanoid forms.

In recent times, after a period of peace and stability, war began to rear its ugly head again. People within the various Earth nations and in the Lunar States began to express their discontent for the commercial imperialism that ZATIN had forced upon them, as well as the attitudes of their military. United by these grievances, a group formed, calling themselves the World League, all from different places on Earth, the moon, and even within ZATIN, to strike for their beliefs. Violently if necessary. The largest display of their power was shown in CT 0195, almost two hundred years since the War of Freedom that liberated ZATIN and brought the Earth under its heel. The League released a deadly virus into the ZATIN mainframes, destroying almost all the data in the military and government mainframes, spreading by the space and earth-spanning Z-Net, a wireless network working by broadcasting and saturating waves of information. The virus altered the waves of information broadcast by the Z-Net transmitters, crippling communications systems, guidance systems in both civilian and military craft, and having a curious side effect on the power plants used universally within the earthsphere: neo-fission generators. These generators were an extremely refined form of normal nuclear fission, able to use any element, not just the heavy ones such as uranium or plutonium, and even worked better on the waste produced from fission of these heavy elements. The altered Z-Net waves, or Z-Waves, sped up the reaction so much that the neo-fission reactors were simply overloaded, and exploded. This lead to huge casualties, particularly within Zatin, where the use of neo-fission reactors was the most widespread, with the destruction of many colonies due to neo-fission chain-reactions transforming the reactors into highly destructive nuclear bombs.

In light of these attacks, the ZATIN chairman, Nicholas Schrabb declared war on this group, declaring an Earth Crusade against these people who would dare to resort to terrorist tactics to shove their views down people's throats.

They also pupported to be protecting the drained and depleted Earth from the commercial depredations of ZATIN's corporate elite. This Earth Crusade has raged on for eight years now, with no end in sight as ZATIN continues to identify new EUN members who sympathise with the World League.


	2. Chapter 01: Fly, Echo!

**8:34am January 9th, CT 0203**

"… and ZATIN forces continue to search the hills of Yemen for one of the suspected leaders of the World League. Sources say that it is not long now until we find him and then bring him to justice. Now, in sports news, Neo Ithaca's football team ..."

CLACK CLACK.

The sound of cueballs striking against each other in a small and cosy café.  
"Are you sure you should be doing this?" One of the young men playing pool said to the other.  
"Yeah, I'm fine with it." The other man watched as the first speaker struck the white ball, and watched it roll across the pool table to strike one of the balls and sink it into a side pocket.  
"Hehe, your mistake means another go for me." The other young man said. "You know, you really shouldn't be missing lectures to play pool, you know."  
"Ahh, what're you gonna do? I don't like that lecturer. He's so boring! He can wreck interesting topics like how cancers used to work." He looked down his pool-cue as he lined up a shot.  
"Your life, Alex." The other young man said as he watched the first one, Alex, make his move. He watched as the ball sped off down the pool table, bouncing heavily off one of the balls near the entrance, knocking another into the pocket and then following it. The white ball bounced off the far edge, knocking a third ball into a side pocket.  
"Oh yeah!" he crowed. "Now that's something you don't see everyday!" He made a little victory jump, clapping his hands before spreading his arms in a V form above his head, two Vs formed on both his hands.  
"Let's see you do better than that, Henry!" Henry took his pool cue and mulled over his next move.

"Hey, you two, shouldn't you two be at lecture?" A sweet voice came from behind them. The two young men turned to see a girl, in her late teens, with a tray and two steaming cups. She had dark, long hair, and a face with brown eyes that always seemed to sparkle, a smile that would light up even the most despondent man, and outfitted in a cute waitress outfit that kept the men coming back.  
"Ah, Mako-chan!" Alex said, greeting her and taking one of the cups. She blushed.  
"Geez, I keep telling you, stop calling me that!" she said, a little annoyed. "It's Makoto! Not Mako-chan!"  
"But I've been calling you that all the time since we were little, and you don't seem to mind that I didn't lose the habit." Alex said, smiling happily and being adamant about it.  
"Here." She said, giving the other cup to Henry.

"One coffee, and one hot tea." She glared at the grinning Alex, before smiling herself. She skipped back to her work, humming a little.   
"You were lucky this time, Alex." Henry said, admonishing him as he lined up his next shot.  
"Yeah I know. I don't want her chasing me around the café with the idea of bashing my head through that tray like she has before." Alex smiled ruefully at the memory. They returned to their game, but not before Henry noticed the radio was still on.  
"Why do you listen to such depressing things? Let's turn this off …" Henry said, reaching over and flicking the off-switch on the small radio attached to the pool table.  
"Now then!" he said, brimming with energy, "watch me win!" Alex laughed.  
"You wish!"

Two people entered the café. They were both dressed in normal casual clothes, and wearing sunglasses. One was a man, the other a woman. The man looked to be in his early thirties, the woman in her mid-twenties.  
"Why did I get "Peeper?"" he complained, exasperated, to his partner. She smiled mischievously.  
"The commander has a perverted sense of humour. But you're not much better." She replied, poking his forehead affectionately, before giggling a little.  
"Still, yours isn't much better." He replied, with a smug grin.   
"Exhibition." Her expression took on a playful, angry look.  
"Oh, you …" she growled, before, flicking his ear.  
"Oww! Ah, geez Natalise, why did you have to do that for? I can't listen in on bathroom talk between girls if you do that!" he said with a playful smile. He looked around.  
"So this is Café 13. I hear that the coffee here is particularly nice, but not as much as the waitresses." Kurt said, looking around and trying to change the subject. He had an impish smile on his face.   
"You never change, do you Kurt?" she replied to him with a sigh. They chose a seat and sat down. The two ordered a pair of straight black coffees, and as Makoto rushed to get them their order, she was accosted by a pair of soldiers still in a drunken stupor from the night before. They had staggered in, and took a seat, oblivious to the angry glares briefly shot at them by other patrons at the café.  
"Hey babe, how about a mornin' kiss?" one of the soldiers slurred, grabbing at Makoto's skirt.  
"Kyaa!" she had screamed, reacting to the sudden movement. She almost dropped the tray with Natalise and Kurt's coffees, but skillfully managed to rebalance the tray.  
"What are you saying? I don't kiss guys who stink of alcohol."  
"What did you say!" the drunken soldier cried, standing up quickly. He looked around at the rest of the café, and saw that people were looking their way. "What're you lookin' at!" he growled, and the patrons quickly returned to their own duties, ignoring the soldier and Makoto.  
"Now then …" he said, grabbing Makoto's hand and pulling her a little closer. He brought his face close to hers.  
"Let's have that kiss …" He puckered his lips and went in for the kill. He was very surprised when a lot of hot liquid splashed on his face. He gave a cry of pain, rubbing the hot coffee off his face and raising his hand to slap the fearful Makoto, now trying to free herself of his hand. "Bitch!" he shouted, and raised his hand to slap her. Kurt quickly stood up and reached for something at his waist.

As it descended, a pool cue struck it away. He gave another yowl of pain, and saw who the new offender was. A tallish young man, with black hair, about 5' 8" tall, his face framed by a pair of petite, oval spectacles, had slapped his hand away with a pool cue.   
"That's not very gentlemanly of you." He said, with a smirk on his face. They heard a click, and turned their heads to see Kurt putting something away.   
"What was that?" the soldier said, eyeing Kurt suspiciously, advancing towards him, the indignity dealt him by the two young upstarts all but forgotten. His partner lay back in his chair, watching the fireworks with a look of great amusement on his face.  
"Nothing." Kurt replied coolly. They watched as the soldier approached him.   
"Really now?" The soldier said, not quite free of the thought that Kurt was hiding something.  
"I thought I saw something metal there. Concealed weapons are against the law, aren't they?" he grinned, showing his yellow, broken teeth.  
"You mean this?" he said, holding up a gun with a red cap on the end of its barrel.  
"It's a cap gun. See?" he pointed it in the air and fired a few rounds. Other than loud sound and a bit smoke, the gun fired nothing else.   
"Right, you're fine … but I'm keeping my eye on you." The soldier turned around and wandered back to his table. Kurt sighed in relief and sat back down.   
"That was close. Why do you do that!" Natalise said to Kurt, admonishing him.  
"What?" Kurt enquired innocently, his eyes speaking that he did nothing wrong.  
"Nothing. I merely went to the aid of a pretty lady." Makoto giggled as she set new coffees on their table.  
"So I'm that irresistible, huh?" she said flirtatiously, giving him a wink.  
"Oh no …" Kurt replied in kind, "I'm just a ladies' man." Just then, a sharp explosion took place, across the street, sending cars flying. Everyone ducked for cover.

A loud crackle was heard from Kurt's waist.  
"bzzt … me in, Pee …me in! This is Ka… we fl… retre… taking heavy fire and need geta…" The soldier, still ambling back to his table, spun around and shot a glare at Kurt.  
"I knew it! A League agent!" He ran at Kurt while his partner called for help. "This is Hensers!" his partner shouted onto their radio.  
"HQ! We got a pair of League spies at Café 39, Karis Road! Request backup immediately!"  
"Geez, just when I was getting to know the girl as well." Kurt sighed. He grabbed Makoto's hand, and pointed a gun to her head. A real one, not the cap gun he had before.  
"I'd prefer not to do this," he said loudly, looking at the two soldiers, "but cancel that, or the girl dies." Makoto, stiff with fear, could only just stand there. Natalise sighed, and stood up on the table.  
"If either of you pricks move, I'll execute the motherfg both of you!" she shouted at the top of her voice. She pointed her own gun at the onrushing soldier, frozen by Kurt's threat. The soldier smiled.   
"Go ahead. Shoot her." He said with a sneer on his face.  
"See if I care if the bitch dies. Plenty more where she came from." Kurt frowned. He decided that that was bad.  
"In that case …" he said slowly. He quickly turned his gun on the soldiers, shooting the radio of the one calling for help, and then shot the leg of the one who had come at him.  
"Go, now!" he shouted at Natalise. She nodded, and they both ran out of the café, Kurt still holding Makoto's hand.

Alex and Henry looked on as the two League terrorists escaped with Makoto.   
"Quick, after em! We can't let 'em get at Makoto!" he cried, rushing out after them. Henry quickly followed.  
"You're such an idiot! They got guns!" Henry shouted as they chased the two. They pursued the two down the road, as they rounded a corner and disappeared into a building.  
"So what?" Alex replied. He held up the pool cue, which he still had.   
"I'm pretty good with javelin."

As they came to the corner, they looked both ways to see where the pair went. There was a loud boom above them, and the sound of giant steps. A pair of huge mobile suits emerged from the building. They were rather blocky, and had a large backpack, presumably housing thrusters. Their heads turned around, showing a round ball with an area cut out for the "eyes," and there were a pair of protrusions from the head for other cameras. At the chin level, were two holes, roughly fifty-five millimeters in length. They both bore large rifles, resembling tommy-guns, complete with the drum-clip.  
"Wow …" Alex breathed.  
"League mobile suits." Looking up, they saw a white object flying around, firing sporadically.  
"Look, we got the cavalry coming!" Henry said, tapping Alex's shoulder and pointing the other way. They watched as a squadron of ZATIN military MS came out.

They were a group of ZATIN Assault Knight Units (ZAKU for short) , all of them bearing rifles. The League mobile suits raised their rifles, and opened fire. The ZAKUs quickly dispersed and went for cover behind the buildings, the large caliber bullets from the League MS guns smashing into the buildings the ZAKUs were hiding behind. As they did, the white object made a pass over the field, spraying it with machinegun fire as it flew past. It banked around for another turn, and the two young men could see that it looked like a fighter-plane of some sort. It had swept-back wings, and a pair of huge thrusters on its back, as well as a large gun of some sort. The body seemed rather blocky, but it seemed there was more to the fighter-plane that meets the eye.

As it made another pass, coming from behind the ZAKUs taking cover and exchanging fire with the League MS, Alex and Henry watched as it tore up one of the ZAKUs, raking it with beam shots from a beam-machinegun. The ZAKUs, realizing the threat, instantly activated their beam shields, a curtain of light firing up over their other side shoulder, to shield them from behind from this deadly fighter. The fighter made another pass, this time firing the large gun, a huge energy blast tearing through one of the buildings to blast a hole right through another ZAKU. Realising the threat, one of the ZAKUs holstered its machinegun, and took a long-barreled weapon from its back. It fired on the fighter, almost striking it, detonating when it got near the fighter.

Then suddenly, the fighter did the most amazing thing. It transformed, in front of their eyes, from a fighter, into a MS. Alex could see now that it was coloured white, dark blue and yellow, and as it landed, it took up the large rifle it had on its back and took aim. It fired another blast at the ZAKU with the gun, striking the ZAKU but not penetrating it, but instead impacting on the beam shield of the prepared ZAKU. It then stepped back in surprise as the ZAKUs opened fire on it, some suppressing the other two League MS hiding behind the building they had emerged from. The MS took a lot of heavy fire, hiding behind its own beam shield as they pummeled it with machinegun fire.

Alex and Henry ran to take cover as the ground shook, shaking as the impact of the huge shells from the ZAKU's machinegun rounds fell to the pavement and cracked the cement. Suddenly, the beam shield gave out and the MS was knocked down by the sustained machinegun fire. Alex and Henry looked, and saw the cockpit open, and a person in a pilot suit crawl out. As he ran towards them, oblivious of the two young men there, Alex and Henry looked at each other. They decided on a good course of action.

They rushed the pilot, knocking him out with a pair of blunt implements: Alex's pool cue, and Henry using a loose piece of piping he found nearby. Dragging his body with them, Alex used his sweater to tie him up, and had Henry take his gun. They decided that if he woke up earlier than expected, they'd make sure he wouldn't give them trouble.  
As they went up to the MS, Alex noticed large letters burnished on the side:   
"PROJECT GUNDAM" and "ZMS-X16 ECHO." He paid them no heed until they clambered inside the open cockpit. Alex had an impish grin on his face.  
"Hehe …" he said to Henry.  
"Whoever woulda thought that I'd be able to do the same stuff that I see in all those shows?" Henry gave him an exasperated grin.  
"You watch too much TV when you should be spending time studying."  
"I know, I know." Alex said, heaving the comatose pilot into the strangely open cockpit. They looked down, and saw it was a rather strange one. The whole cockpit was like the inside of a sphere, with blank tiles covering the inside surface of this sphere. In the centre, there was a control chair, presumably where the pilot sat. Alex leapt in, landing on the chair's back.  
"Wow, a three-sixty degree panoramic view. Just like those sims at the arcades!" He sat down in the chair, and motioned for Henry to join him. "Even the controls!"  
"Now, let's see …" Alex said, and began to randomly press buttons. The tiles began to light up, showing him diagnostics.  
"Echo …?" Alex murmured as the name came up onscreen.

Images of the outside from the view of the MS' head began to blink on. Currently, it showed bullets flying over it, the only things blemishing the blue of the colony's sky.  
"Hmm …" Alex mused, pressing more buttons. Suddenly, the hatch closed shut.  
"Okay! Let's go!" he cried, pushing one of the control sticks forward, and stepping on the middle pedal.

The MS suddenly boosted itself up, and the cockpit began to shake as the sound of bullets ricocheting off it was heard. The Echo had stood up right in the line of fire of the ZAKUs and the two League MS. Alex watched as small tags appeared next to the other MS on the battlefield. The two League MS were marked "Crusaders," and the two ZAKUs were obviously marked as such. Noting the rifle was still in the MS' hand, Alex tried pushing one of the other control sticks, but that simply made the Echo lean forward and then fall down again, flat on its face. A small window opened up on the display, with the image of a man's angry face displayed on it, along with an ID tag on the bottom. Kurt Linch.  
"Hey, what the hell you doing Bennere!" he said angrily. Alex realized he couldn't make out his face through the space helmet. Ignoring him, Alex decided it would be best to find the manual for this thing before anything else. Bringing up a menu screen, Alex managed to navigate the menu enough to enter tutorial mode.

After about 15 minutes of browsing through the tutorial, oblivious of the stalemated firefight, Alex managed to get the Echo to stand up. As it did, he pointed the rifle at the two ZAKUs, and flipped a small setting on the control chair to I.  
A pair of rods extended from opposite sides of the barrel outwards, past the end of the rifle barrel.Pointing the rifle, and taking fire from the ZAKUs who were suddenly concentrating on the Echo after it stood up. Ignoring the rifle fire, the Echo pointed its rifle at the remaning group of ZAKUs, and then Alex pressed the trigger.  
The rifle hummed for a second, and then a large, blue-white blast of electricity arced out from the rifle as the barrel glowed. The blast struck and stunned the ZAKU units, as the energy leapt from ZAKU to ZAKU.

"Cool!" Alex exclaimed, watching as the ZAKUs stopped moving. He turned the Echo around to the Crusaders. The comms window popped up again, this time with the face of the woman from the café. The ID tag named her as "Natalise Jorren."  
"Great job, Bennere! Now let's pack up and get outta here before the Zeds send more of those suits."

Ignoring her hail. Alex raised the rifle and pointed it at the two Crusaders as they emerged from the cover of the heavily damaged buildings. Alex opened up his own channel to the two.  
"What the hell you doing, Bennere?" Kurt said, a window popping up. He had a playful smile on his face.  
"This ain't Bennere." Alex replied. Kurt's smile was gone from his face.  
"Who are you? And what are you doing in the Echo!" Kurt demanded. Natalise held a look of concern on her face. Henry came into view of the communication screen.  
"And who's he?" Natalise demanded. Alex removed the helmet. Her eyes widened in surprise.  
"Kids …. The ones from the café!"  
"That's right!" Alex replied.  
"We're in this MS for one reason." He warmed up the rifle.  
"You took a girl when you left the café. We want you to give her back." Henry put in. Kurt frowned. Henry continued.  
"Please comply, and then we will get out of this mobile suit, and give it back to you." Alex looked at Henry and smiled.  
"Now let's hope they don't call our bluff."  
"I'm not killing people just so I can get Makoto back!" Alex sputtered. Henry held up his hand to calm him down.  
"I'm not saying you should. They get their MS back, we get Makoto back."   
"Let's hope it stays that way." Alex replied pessimistically. The other two in the Crusaders seemed to consider his proposal for several minutes. They finally came to a decision.

"Take her. She's knocked out, in the warehouse where we came from." Natalise replied. She opened up a private channel to Kurt.  
"Jeez, you sure have a way of doing things." She complained.  
"What?" Kurt replied, unrepentant. "I thought she needed help, and those two guys didn't seem like the kind who were gonna be gentlemanly." Natalise sighed.  
"To your standards, the only one capable of that is you." Kurt laughed. "Well, that must mean that I really am God's gift to women." The two mercenaries watched as the Echo moved to the warehouse and bent over. As its cockpit opened, they saw the two kids step out and into the warehouse.

"World League terrorists! You are ordered to lay down your arms and surrender! Do so and we will treat you less severely!" There boomed a loud declaration as three more squadrons of ZAKUs closed in on all sides, surrounding the three League MS.  
"Nuts. Just when we were about to escape." Kurt remarked to Natalise. "Well, surrender isn't an option." His Crusader quickly ducked back into some heavy cover.

"Henry! You get out with that pilot and try to get Makoto. I'll try to stop them by surrendering." Alex said quickly. Henry nodded in response and climbed out, dragging the pilot with him. He alighted onto the Echo's hand, and then got off after it lowered him close to the ground. Leaving the pilot in some cover, Henry ran quickly into the warehouse.

Alex closed the cockpit, getting the Echo to stand up slowly, its rifle pointed in the air in a gesture of surrender. As he did, he suddenly was hit by sporadic gunfire as it stood up. Reacting automatically, Alex pulled the control sticks to the side, accidentally pressing a blue button on the console. The Echo suddenly moved very quickly, leaping to the side, seeming to move so fast it left after-images in the air, made up almost entirely of a mass of sound waves. Alex looked up to see a small box marked "_Echo Drive Active_."

'I wonder what that does …' he pondered to himself, and quickly called up the manual again. The Echo drive allowed the Echo to move at speeds in excess of mach 12 for microseconds at a time, the main property being a side effect of the drive unit that exerted such bursts of movement. It left a mass energised photons and standing sound waves that seemed to simulate the glowing frame of the MS itself, fading away over the course of 7.03 seconds as the standing sound waves dissipated.

The ZAKUs fired on the Echo again, ignoring Alex's protests of innocence and demands to surrender to them. As it danced from the gunfire of the ZAKUs, he saw Henry emerge from the warehouse, leading Makoto. Firing another incapacitating shot at the ZAKUs, this time they saw its danger and quickly blocked the electrical blast with their beam shields. Alex leapt the Echo up onto a building, which visibly shook as the Echo landed on it. Trying to make them see reason, Alex decided something more drastic was needed.

Changing the setting to "B," Alex depressed the firing mechanism in the cockpit. The rifle shifted, as the barrel shifted back and widened. Three vents opened up along the rifle's back, and then the Echo opened fire. It hummed, energy coursing through into the centre of the barrel and building up for a second, humming loudly as it did. A pinpoint of light was focused on just in front of the barrel's centre, and then the rifle emitted a huge blast of energy, blasting right through two buildings before melting the armour on the one hiding behind the second building. The power suddenly cut out, and the cockpit went pitch black. Alarm klaxons sounded, and a voice over the intercom sounded a warning.

"Warning: power overload. Emergency shutdown, please be patient." Alex sat in the cockpit for what seemed to be an eternity, before the MS powered up again, all power returning. Suddenly, he noticed he was under fire by the ZAKUs again. Switching the rifle setting to M, the vents on the rifle closed up, the barrel closed back up as it was before, and a wire snaked out from the MS' waist and plugged into the rifle. Alex pointed the rifle at the ZAKUs, and opened fire.

The Echo's rifle let loose with a hail of beam shots, the rifle now a high-powered beam machinegun. Raking the squadron of ZAKUs firing on it with beam machinegun fire, Alex sprayed the area as he advanced on them with the Echo, laying down suppression fire. He noticed a light flashing in the corner of his eye, and turned to see a ZAKU sneaking up behind him, its beam hawk glowing as it prepared to cut the Echo down from behind. Alex quickly swung the Echo around, pumping the ZAKU full of beam machinegun fire. It jerked and convulsed as the beam shots struck it, like some sort of mad puppeteer was shaking his hands with the ZAKU attached to them. Turning back around, he pressed a button, the Echo's rifle folding up as it mounted itself on the Echo's forearm and the hand-shield moved forward, projecting a beam shield All the while, Alex drew a beam saber as the ZAKUs got within a range where the Echo's rifle would be useless.

The waist holsters on the side popped open, a white handle flying into the Echo's waiting hand. An iridescent green beam ignited from the handle, and the Echo charged forward, slashing around madly at the ZAKUs. Surprised by this sudden attack, Alex cleft the arm from one of the ZAKUs and the leg from another, before leaping it into the air and activating the Echo Drive to boost it over another ZAKU's head and then landing behind it and decapitating it.

By now, Alex was sweating inside the cockpit from such exertion. There as no time to rationalize or reason as he was in danger of being killed, and he had to protect himself at all costs. Looking around at a screen, he saw one of the Crusaders heft up a large bazooka from the warehouse, and then fire it at the sky. The missile impacted and created an open hole in space, the Crusaders leaping upwards. Alex quickly swung the blade around, fending off the ZAKUs for enough time to fire another weapon.

The rifle extended itself on the Echo's arm, and Alex fired several incapacitating shots, the electricity arcing around as the Echo's rifle panned around the Echo's surroundings. Quickly moving back to the warehouse, Alex had the MS kneel down to where Henry was waving, and lifted Makoto and Henry into the cockpit. Henry was just about to get back out when the more ZAKUs arrived, forcing Henry to step back inside. As the Echo turned, Alex saw a group of his friends emerge from the direction of Café 13.

Zooming in, he saw on the display window his sister Aya, his friends Iain and Jon, and Tim Vaan, a guy who was after his sister. He turned to them, waving to them. Noticing the Echo, with looks of disbelief on their faces, they moved cautiously towards it, through the flaming wreckage that the Echo had wrought. He set down the Echo and let them into the cockpit.  
"So this is where you've been!" Jon exclaimed as he saw Alex waving at him from inside the cockpit.  
"Adding MS theft to hooky this morning, eh?" Iain said jokingly.  
"Come on up and have a look!" Alex was like a kid showing off a new toy.   
"Geez, Alex, getting involved in a fight again!" Aya exclaimed, exasperated.  
"I can't believe you! From such a respectable household too!" Tim called, joining in with her. The ZAKUs began to move again.  
"No time! Get inside, quickly, before they start shooting at you for being League accomplices!" The five quickly clambered on.  
After letting five more people in, with a total of eight inside, counting the pilot, Alex had quite a squeeze inside.

As he pondered what to do, he saw the two Crusaders from earlier return through the hole, having been gone not more than six minutes at the most, blasting through the glass shield that had come up over the hole and flying in again. Before he could react, the two Crusaders grabbed the Echo by its arms, lifting it up in the air, and flew back through the hole, fleeing the raking gunfire of the recovering ZAKU units. The group of friends watched as the Crusaders pulled the Echo out into space, in view of a large, white spaceship. Taking it inside, they saw they were in a large MS deck, troops quickly surrounding the Echo with rifles.

"We have you surrounded. Come out with your hands up!" The group did as they were told, the Echo kneeling down, and the group emerging out onto the hand. Alex pressed a button, lowering them to the ground. Troops quickly swarmed around and surrounded them. A man in a white coat came up to them, with a stern look on his face. Daring to venture a question, Iain called out to him.  
"Who are you? And where are we?" he demanded of this man in the white coat. The man in the white coat simply reached inside, producing a cap and placing it on his head.  
"I am the captain. Cees van Kurrel. And this is my ship, the Argento."


	3. Chapter 02: Patriots

**4:33pm January 4th CT 0203**

Alarm klaxons went off at the ZATIN Homeland Defence station near the colony of Neo Ithaca. As soldiers swarmed about the base, moving into preparation, one man stood in his room, in front of a mirror. Straightening out his blue flight uniform, he looked at himself in the mirror. He knew about the situation. The terrorist attack had occurred earlier that day, and to add to that, they had staged a kidnapping as well. He sighed. They were probably a gathering of those who disliked and resented ZATIN, the Zoroaster Astral Trade and Information Network. He thought back over the glorious history that ZATIN had led the colonies through. Federation almost three hundred years ago, as the colonies banded together into the conglomerate they named ZATIN.

The manifest destiny of ZATIN gaining power to use for the good of the Earth and the colonies, whether those on Earth liked it or not. The end of the Great War of Freedom over two hundred years ago, the establishment of the golden age of the colonies, ushered in by the brave heroes, pioneers of the Zatin way. He sighed, and looked over at the bookshelf filled with history books. He finished by putting on the last part of his flight uniform, and the name tag read "Vaan."

"Corporal Vaan!" A sergeant shouted from the other side of his room's door. "Hurry up! We're scrambling in ZAKUs and pursuing the League idiots who decided to try and get us in our backyards!"  
"Yes, coming!" he called. With one last look to see that he looked immaculate, he ran for the door, following the others to the launch hangar, getting into his ZAKU and preparing for launch.

As he powered up the system and prepared for launch, he saw a flash of silver, and his heart lifted. There was a silver MS arming itself for launch. Unlike the ZAKUs, it did not carry most of its arms, but instead had them built into its hands. Its two spiked shoulders, the bulkier head with the thicker cabling, the rounded shape, and the raised area on its right wrist signified the shape of not a ZAKU, but another of Zatin's MS, the Gravity Overfall Ultramodern Fighter, or GOUF for short. They had been tested during the Zatin occupation of Syria two years ago, and had proven so successful that they had become Zatin's MS of choice for combat within the earthsphere, be it in low orbit around the Earth, within the atmosphere, or on the ground, it had proven an excellent support unit to the standard Zatin workhorse, the ZAKU. It provided close fire and close combat support, the heat rod mounted in its right arm used to deadly effect, the shield on its left arm could b fitted either with a heat sword for extra close combat power, or the favourite of this particular pilot, a very large minigun mounted on the shield. Vaan looked away and then got on the launch catapult.

"ZAKU, Gorvik Unit, Corporal James Vaan, leaving to sortie!" he called over the intercom. The officer at the CIC confirmed his launch request.  
"ZAKU, you have a go!" the CIC officer replied. James nodded, and prepared himself. The launch catapult hummed, and suddenly, propelled by huge magnetic force, the ZAKU was flung out into space. He listened over the radio as the silver GOUF prepared for launch.

"GOUF, Lieutenant-Colonel Morgan Gorvik, launch!" the commanding voice came over the radio. The silver GOUF was flung out into space, another two ZAKUs following. The face of his commanding officer, Morgan Gorvik, came up on the comm. screen. His face was dominated by a large silver mask, like the chiseled face of a Greek statue, covering almost his entire face but his mouth. The only thing you could see through his mask were the piercing blue eyes.

Morgan Gorvik's odd habit of wearing the mask had generated legend after legend, and many an unclaimed bet as they speculated why he wore the mask that gave him his nickname, the Silver Face. Some said that he wore it because he had a horrible disfiguration underneath, others say it was because he was vain and didn't want his face damaged by shards of glass that used to be the screen on a damaged cockpit display. Almost no-one knew the real reason for his wearing the mask. The only other thing about him was that he was all business, on or off duty, a ruthless warrior, and an almost peerless tactician.

The Gorvik unit formed up quickly and silently, James taking point, the rest of his unit, four ZAKUs and the silver GOUF behind, in a reverse arrowhead formation.  
"Now listen," Morgan broadcast over the radio, "don't stray too far. We don't want Node wave interference cutting one of us off from the rest and falling into a League ambush." The rest of his unit acknowledged the order.  
"The unidentified ship was last seen leaving Neo Ithaca, so we'll have to track it down. Spread out, groups of two, and stay in radio contact with another unit. Daisy chain." Morgan's unit nodded, and they spread out, in a long-line of what Morgan had nicknamed the "Daisy chain" formation, where one unit made sure they were in contact with another MS squad, and that one with another, and so on, forming a chain of communication that could relay information along effectively while maximizing spread. The Zatin MS boosted off into space, fanning out and searching for the mysterious ship.

Aboard the Argento, Alex and Tim sat in the brig. They could hear Aya, Alex's little sister banging on the door to make noise and annoy the guards.  
"Of all the cells, why do I get placed with you?" Alex complained to Tim.   
"Aw, c'mon Han, it's not that bad." Tim replied with a smug smile to Alex. "I get time for more cracks at you." Alex groaned.  
"I keep telling you, stop referring to me by my surname! We're not in high school anymore!" Alex complained again. A silence descended upon them, a godsend, so Alex thought. They had both gone to the same high school, Alex graduating a year before. Tim Vaan had loved to pick on Alex, annoying him constantly by greeting him simply, inappropriately affectionately, and in a loud voice. Usually all at once.  
"Hey Han …" Tim said.  
"What?"   
"Come here, honey!"   
"Argh!" Alex groaned, curling up further in his corner of the cell. Bob looked up from his corner of the cell, and shouted at the two.  
"Will you two shut up! I'm trying to think of a way out of here!" Bob shouted, exasperated. Alex and Tim's bickering didn't help.  
In the next cell, sat Henry, Iain and Jon, wondering what to do, listening to Alex and Tim's bickering through the thin steel wall. Jon, worrier that he was, was pondering out loud the ramifications of being captured by the World League.  
"Do you think they'll ransom us for money and cut off one of our fingers for each day that passes that they don't make the payment?" he asked Iain morbidly.  
"Maybe, and then they'll put our eyes out and fry our balls." Iain remarked, forcing a smile and an attempt at morbid humour. It didn't work, and the silence returned. The only sounds were the humming of the spaceship and Aya's banging on the door.  
"Let us out of here you scum! We're not with the military! You have no right to hold us here! Let us out now, you pigfaced, sleazey, good-for-nothing assholes!" she shouted, raining abuse on their heads. The guard outside was oblivious to it, turning up the music on his portable music player to drown out Aya's banging and tantrums.   
"Ohh, it's no use." She said finally, sinking down onto the floor, her chin resting on her hand, her pigtails flying up as she sank quickly to the ground. Makoto was in the cell with her.  
"You have to try something different." Makoto said, a grin on her face as she contemplated her plan.  
"Oh? What's that?" Aya asked her.  
"I'll tell you." Makoto replied with a wink, leaning in and whispering in Aya's ear. She started giggling as she heard what Makoto was thinking.

"Captain, my recommendation is that we get out of here post-haste." Kurt said, finishing his report. The captain, Cees van Kurrel, sat behind his desk as he looked over the photos from the incident earlier that day.  
"What of Bennere?" van Kurrel asked him.  
"We can say that he's officially MIA." Kurt replied. His face clouded over with anger. "If only those interfering kids hadn't gotten in the way, Bennere would be here instead of rotting in some godforsaken Zatin interrogation room." Van Kurrel stood up.  
"Speaking of which, have you looked at the flight data from the Echo yet?" Kurt's face changed to one of slight surprise.  
"No. Why? Is there something special?" Kurt asked him. The captain's face was impassive. He wandered over to the view window, and stared out into the void of space.  
"The kid who piloted it must be remarkable. Not only was he able to pilot the Echo without looking at its manual or any formal training, but he was even able to push the Echo Drive further than I've seen in any of the tests."  
"Him? That kid?" Kurt said, now truly surprised.  
"Yes. May I ask how they managed to end up tangled with you?" The captain said, turning about suddenly, facing Kurt with a piercing look that bored through his confidence.  
"Well, uh, sir … you see … I er …" Kurt stammered, trying to come up with a way to explain his little mishap.  
"Your womanizing again, isn't it?" van Kurrel stated. Kurt winced. He was right on target. Van Kurrel sighed.  
"Whatever am I going to do with you?" Kurt said nothing, and just stood there.  
"You are dismissed. I will consider the matter and how to discipline you once I have some free time." Kurt saluted him.  
"Then excuse me, sir." Kurt left the room. Van Kurrel pressed a button on his desk.  
"Janelle Waseem. What's the matter, captain?" A voice came over the other end.  
"Janelle," van Kurrel said, "get me the kid who was piloting the Echo from the brig."  
"Right away, captain."

The guard stood outside the cells, listening to his walkman. That annoying brat of a girl had stopped banging on a door. He smiled, thinking that he finally wouldn't have to deafen himself to ignore her abuse anymore. He yawned. Suddenly, there came a noise from the cell the two girls were in.  
"Ooh, Makoto, don't touch me there!" came a sexy moan from the cell.   
"Come on, you're all so nice and soft. Especially … there …" came another voice, this time sultry and seductive.  
"Ah no! Not there!" Following this comment was a laugh.  
"Teehee, you're so sensitive. Let's see what happens if I rub this …"   
"Kyaa! No, if you do that, I'll lose control!" Impure thoughts raced through the guard's head, and then he felt a something trickling out of his nose. He wiped it off, and saw it was blood.  
'Not good,' he thought, 'I shouldn't be thinking such dirty thoughts while on duty." The cries still came on, irrespective of his wishes.  
"Ah! Makoto, don't take my top off like that!" Aya's cry came from the cell.

In his own cell, Alex smiled. It was a trick he knew all too well. When Makoto would come over to his home for one thing or another, usually to kick him out of bed and go to school, she sometimes had a special punishment. Bob fixed a glare of disbelief on Alex.  
"Alex, your sister's rather … dirty. I never thought Makoto would sink to such depths too!" Alex shushed Bob, bringing a finger to his lips. Tim was simply listening, drooling as impure thoughts and images raced through his head." Henry, Jon and Iain simply sat there in disbelief, listening to the lustful conversation in the cell next door.

"Ah no, not my panties!" Aya shrieked suddenly. The guard had had enough.  
"I'm coming to save you!" he cried, opening the door. As the door slid away, he saw an angry Aya, fully clothed, standing in front of him.  
"Huh?" was the only sound he could manage before Aya drove two fingers into his eyes and her knee into his groin, causing him to fall down on the floor, clutching his face and groin, and rolling around and mewling loudly in pain. She had brought a totally new definition to the term "a world of pain."

"Quick, let's go!" Aya said to Makoto. They relieved him of his keycard and used it to free the three in the cell next to theirs. Letting Henry, Iain and Jon out, they went on and freed Alex, Bob and Tim.   
"OK, now we're free, what should we do?" Jon said as the group ran down the passageway to the elevator.  
"The first thing is to get out of here before the Zatin military come and blast this ship with us on it." Alex replied. "But how to do that?"  
"Take hostages." Iain's answer was simple.  
"Hostages?" Aya echoed him. Iain nodded.  
"Yes. If we take hostages, then they'll be forced to give us a shuttle out of here." Iain explained. He ran back and took the fallen guard's pistol. With a rather maniacal smile on his face, he checked the gun was all properly working. As he returned to the group, waiting at the elevator, it opened.

"Freeze!" Iain cried, the group moving aside to permit a clear lane of fire. The trio in the elevator froze. A pretty woman with curls in a nurse's uniform stood on the other side, gasping in surprise. The other two, however, reacted immediately. They leapt forward, using the low gravity to propel them forward, aiming to tackle Iain. In a flash of quick thinking, Alex moved into the elevator and quickly seized the nurse from behind, putting her in a chokehold.

"Ah! What do you think you're doing?" she cried in surprise.  
"Relax, and I won't hurt you" Alex whispered to her. Loudly, he said "don't move! Or else I'll be forced to hurt the pretty nurse!" The other two froze.  
"Doctor Fa!" one of them cried. The nurse-doctor nodded.  
"It's OK. Let them go."  
"But …" the other objected.  
"Do it!" she said with an air of authority. They nodded, and backed off. Iain moved forward, keeping the gun trained on them. The group got in the elevator and Tim hit the close-doors button.  
"OK now, doctor," Alex said, emphasizing the word doctor, "where can we find a shuttle to get us out of here and back to Neo Ithaca?"   
"The shuttles would be on the mobile suit deck." She replied without hesitation. Iain fixed a narrow glance on her.  
"The way you said that, it sounds like you almost want to help us." He said, narrowing his eyes ins suspicion.  
"Take it however you will, you'll still need to go to the MS deck." They obeyed her instructions, exiting to the MS deck. Looking up and down the corridors, the group found the coast clear, and went all the way through to the MS deck. As they did, they entered the hangar, they found it empty. Suspiciously empty. Suddenly, there was a cry, and Alex looked up, recognizing Kurt as he descended down on Alex. He quickly freed the doctor of Alex's grasp, letting her jump away, before squaring off against the group. He gave a loud whistle, and suddenly, troops swarmed in, crowding around Alex and his friends, pointing guns at them. A man in dirty mechanics' overalls approached them.

"What have we here, Kurt?" he called to Kurt, standing in the middle of the group.  
"A group of escaped brats, Jarg." Kurt called back. The elevator sounded again, and this time van Kurrel emerged again, clapping his hands.  
"Haha …" he said jovially as he descended and approached the group, who were now glaring at him, "well done on your escape. It was, however, futile."  
"What do you want with us?" Alex called out to him. He spat the next word. "Captain?"  
"What I want is quite simple. Whether you agree or not, however, is another matter." Alex cocked his head in curiosity.  
"I'm listening."  
"I want you to get back in that MS you were piloting before, and fight Kurt here." Alex rocked back on his heels, totally caught off-guard.   
"If you do, I'll consider letting your friends and yourself free."  
"YOU want me to fight HIM?" Alex cried in disbelief, pointing at a smirking Kurt.  
"Whatsa matter kid? Scared I'll beat you?" Kurt said, a smug expression on his face. He turned to van Kurrel.  
"Captain, what do I get?"  
"You'll be piloting your Crusader." Van Kurrel replied matter-of-factly.   
"Aww … but that's still damaged from this morning's battle."  
"So the kid gets a handicap then."  
"Don't call me kid." Alex put in, stepping forward.  
"And if I refuse?"  
"You'll be returned to your cells and put under heavier guard. And what happens later I can't say." Alex pondered the captain's offer for a minute.  
"Very well. I agree."

The two MS went over to the weapons rack, Kurt's Crusader taking a paintball rifle from the bottom rack. Alex uneasily maneuvered the Echo about to pick up one similar to the Crusader's, but he was stopped by the chief mechanic, Jarg Simar.  
"No! Not that one!" he said firmly as Alex reached out for the rifle.   
"The one above it! Use your eyes!"  
"Okay, okay." Alex said, exasperated. He picked up a replica of the Echo's beam rifle and followed Kurt out onto the launch deck.  
"Okay, now boost off the Argento. And make sure not to lose sight of it. I don't care what happens to you, but that Echo is rather pricy." Kurt said jokingly to Alex over the comms screen. Alex simply glared at him before cutting transmission.  
"Very well, since you're both ready, I'll state the rules." Natalise radioed to them from the Argento's bridge.  
"You're judge?" Kurt asked her.  
"Yes, I am. Now the rules are simple. The first one to get hit three times or use up all his ammo is declared the loser. Ready … GO!"

The two MS boosted off away from each other. Kurt looked around on his display, searching for the Echo. As he scanned his surroundings, he saw a flash of white out of the corner of his eye. Turning to it and firing, the rounds hit the Echo and splattered. Kurt gave a sigh as he realized it was simply an illusion created by the Echo Drive. Looking around, he scanned his surroundings again for the Echo.

"Kid, come out come out wherever you are …" he muttered under his breath. Suddenly, a light flashed above him, and looking up, he saw several after-images as the Echo boosted over him behind him. Following the after-images, he panned the Crusader around and eventually ended up turning to see the Echo suddenly materialize in front of him and fire a burst of shots. Reacting with reflexes honed by years of combat experience, the Crusader shot upwards, the Echo's shots barely missing its legs. Boosting backwards, he saw the Echo dash off again, leaving its after-images.

"Fast bugger, aren't you?" Alex muttered, watching the display. He almost had him. Moving away again, Alex panned the Echo's display around, searching for the Crusader. He saw the Crusader boosting between a pair of rocks, and realized the Argento was anchored near an asteroid field. He smiled as another plan formed in his mind. Alex activated the Echo Drive again, dashing forward, almost tempting Kurt to open fire on him. As he moved across open space, he sporadically activated the Echo Drive, giving the Echo bursts of speed and leaving after-images. As Kurt sprayed his fire, tracking the Echo, he cursed as each shot he thought was on target passed through one of the afterimages. He checked his ammo counter. Out of 60 shots, he had 25 left.

As he tried to track the Echo, it moved up and over, coming up suddenly in front of him and firing point blank. Kurt reacted quickly, but not quickly enough, one of the paint rounds splattering the Crusader's chest red as it boosted away from the Echo. Alex's triumphant face came up over the radio.  
"Heehee. First blood to me." He said smugly.  
"It ain't over yet, kid!" Kurt replied defiantly, cutting the radio transmission. Wait a minute. Kurt had a thought.

Due to the effects of the Node factor, the most devastating aftereffect of a virus attack on the Zatin mainframes eight years ago, Z-Net, the information network blanketing Zatin and the Earth had their broadcasting programming changed, becoming able and constantly trying to flood any information installation with unnecessary information. Radar, radio and long-range communications are especially susceptible, rendering long-range weaponry, intelligence and telemetry useless. This also rendered Zatin's state of the art mobile armour fighters, considered superior to mobile suit technology, totally redundant, as the benefits of mobile armour technology was primarily long-range fighting ability, being able to mount higher-powered, longer ranged weaponry than MS could carry, due to size, power and space restrictions. MS operated primarily on batteries, the Neo-Fission reactor technology requiring too much space to miniaturise for MS use. Hence, the second advent of the MS.

If Alex was communicating to him by radio, then he had to be somewhere nearby. Kurt looked around carefully, watching his thermic monitor for any unusual heat sources. He noticed one to his upper right, stealthily maneuvering the Crusader behind the Echo, propelling itself along with small jets of propellant. Suddenly, Kurt propelled the Crusader forward, blasting forward suddenly and firing at the Echo's behind. Two shots splattered onto the Echo's hull, splattering a large blotch of blue paint across its back. In a panic, Alex moved his hand across the control panel, his hand suddenly and instinctively shooting out and pressing a black button. This caused the Echo to fold up, transforming into a mobile armour.

"Wow, I didn't think it could do this!" Alex said as he zoomed away from the Crusader, the third round barely missing the Echo's body. Banking around, Alex flew the Echo back, the paint rifle on its back discharging three rounds, striking the Crusader with another and barely missing with the last two.

"It's equal now! The one to score the next hit will be the winner!" Natalise proclaimed. By now, most of the crew onboard the Argento were watching the fight, astounded by the spectacle. The two whipped about, circling each other, firing and evading the shots from the other. Eventually, the Echo sped off again, leaving its after-images behind.  
"Only a little more …" Kurt muttered under his breath. All of a sudden, he saw a glint in space, and immediately turned and fired towards it. The speeding paint round sailed through space, from the end of his Crusader's gun barrel, forward, sailing in the void between the stars.

SPLAT.   
The paint round struck one of the wings of the Echo, as it was flying at top speed towards Kurt's Crusader. "Hehe, yeah!" Kurt crowed in triumph over the radio. Alex groaned. It was back to the cell. He had failed his friends. Kurt continued crowing his victory over the radio. All of Alex's companions watching the match in the ship collectively groaned. Before Kurt could celebrate his victory too much however, they were suddenly raked by a hail of beam shots.


	4. Chapter 03: Gorvik squadron

**1:46am January 5th, CT 0203**

Corporal James Vaan monitored his visual sensors for any sign of something out of the unusual. He sighed. For the last ten hours, the Gorvik unit had been rotating hourly with another unit in searching for the unknown craft which had escaped from the proximity of Neo Ithaca. The spectral readouts on his ZAKU told him that this section of space seemed to be dead, but he still saw the glint of metal within the asteroid field in this sector. He opened up communications. Gorvik's masked face appeared on screen, framed by a flight helmet.

"What is it, Vaan?" Gorvik asked abruptly.  
"Sir." Vaan replied.  
"I've spotted something." His ZAKU pointed in the direction of the glint.   
"I think I saw the glint of metal."  
"Let me see." Gorvik said curtly. His silver GOUF came forward, the mono-eye panning from one side to another.  
"It's very faint," he confirmed, "but I detect three very faint heat sources. One, a ship of some sort. The other two seem to be smaller, very likely to be mobile suits. I'm going in closer. Vaan, follow me at a distance and be ready to radio to the others if necessary." Vaan nodded. He followed behind the silver GOUF as it approached.

They saw two MS dueling with each other, circling around and trading shots. Immediately, Vaan recognized the design of one of them as a League Crusader-type MS. The other one, his ZAKU's database had no information on. 'A new model, perhaps?' he thought to himself.   
"Prepare to rebroadcast my transmission." Gorvik radioed to him. Vaan acknowledged it. He keyed his ZAKU to do just that. "This is Gorvik! Rest of the unit, converge on my location! I have located the unknown!" The other two units heard the call and boosted towards the location of the signal.

"I wo-WHAT?" Kurt cried as the beam shots began raking the space around his Crusader and the Echo.  
"Crap! The Zats have found us already?"  
"Zats?" Alex cried.  
"ZATIN forces! We're saved!" he crowed. He tried radioing in.   
"Attention, ZAKU units, this is Alex Han, Echo unit!" Vaan was rocked back by surprise when he heard the name. It was a familiar one to him. He, Alex, and Alex's friends had gone to the same high school, but when the League made the terrorist act of releasing a virus into the mainframe, he had been among the first to enlist in the military in the aftermath of that event, with the intention of bringing justice upon the heads of those responsible. They had known each other, and he had been a member of that group.

"A-Alex?" Vaan said out loud, in his cockpit. Gorvik's image popped up in a window on his display.  
"You know that pilot?" Gorvik inquired. Vaan nodded.  
"Yes. We went to high school together." He confirmed.  
"I see." Gorvik replied. "Ignore that call. It may be a League trick. Instead, engage the Crusader. I'll take the new unit." Vaan nodded.

Kurt and Alex saw the units split off, the ZAKU flying towards the Crusader, firing at him. Kurt fended off the ZAKU easily, using the Crusader's shield to block incoming shots. He returned fire, only to find that his rifle clicked empty.  
"swear!" he cursed. He sent a transmission out to Alex and the Argento.   
"Alex! Get back to the ship! Argento, this is Linch!" Kurt began. Alex promptly turned the Echo around and sped back to the Argento. "Get our live weapons ready and loaded. And cover us!" He turned and sped back. The two ZATIN mobile suits were in hot pursuit.

"Sir, they're retreating." Vaan radioed to Gorvik. He nodded.  
"I imagine they were training and had to go back and get live rifles." Gorvik replied.  
"Sir? Training?" Vaan asked incredulously. Gorvik nodded again.  
"Yes. Did you see the splotches on those mobile suits, and on the areas around?"  
"Yes sir." Vaan replied. It all clicked into place. Training. Dots on his visual sensors began to grow larger, representing the other members of his squad entering close to the zone. Gorvik opened up a radio channel to the rest of his squad.  
"All right, we're going in. Standard anti-ship procedure, watch your backs. Those mobile suits could be back out any time. With more."

Inside the Argento, everything had gone into a state of high alert. People were rushing about, and Alex's friends were bundled unceremoniously back into their cells before being locked up and the guards being sent off to man the weapon turrets. Natalise rushed to the MS deck, boarding her MS as the Echo floated back inside, and moved over to the weapons rack. It took its VMBR (Variable Mode Beam Rifle) off the rack, replacing the paint rifle as it did. Kurt's Crusader landed and retrieved a beam rifle. Natalise's Crusader went over and selected a bazooka from the weapons rack. The three MS went over to the launch catapult, each one jumping into the void outside the ship. As they did, they were greeted with the light of the Argento's weapons fire, trying to take down the ZAKUs as they buzzed around like insects, firing bursts of beam fire from their weapons and scorching the armour in many places.

"What's our status?" van Kurrel said to one of the officers on the bridge.   
"We're taking heavy fire! Armour's down to 47 percent!" one of the controllers on the bridge called.  
"Gunter! Can you take us out of this mess and shake those ZAKUs?" van Kurrel called to the helmsman. He was a big man with a clean-shaven, youthful face.  
"I am trying to get rid of zem here!" Gunter cried back, his voice possessing a heavy German accent.  
"It is no easy task to do!" he pulled the steering controls hard to the right, causing the Argento to turn as it moved, presenting its massive side to the ZAKU squad buzzing around like a group of incessant, stinging insects.  
"Captain! Turrets nine through seventeen offline!" a voice came from below. The captain looked down. Underneath the bridge was gunnery control. Standing there was a woman in a messed up uniform, her auburn hair floating as she directed the Argento's fire.  
"Port turrets one to four, six degrees to the left and two up! Let's trap those ZATIN sons of bitches!"  
"I'll have damage control get right on it." Van Kurrel replied. She nodded, and returned to her work. He took a handset from the arm of the captain's chair.  
"This is van Kurrel! Get damage control to turrets nine to seventeen now! Janelle!" the woman with the auburn hair looked up.  
"Captain?" she asked, before returning to her work.  
"Prepare to activate the N-wave emitter." Van Kurrel said. She was taken aback.  
"But captain!" she demurred. Van Kurrel's face was grim.  
"Limited release. Power output at 10 percent." He replied. Janelle nodded.   
"You heard the captain! Prepare the N-Wave emitter!" she called, relaying the orders.

N-Wave was short for Node Wave, a resultant phenomenon of the Node Factor. These waves disrupted communications and radar, saturating them with useless information. They also had a secondary effect. When they interacted with the process of neo-fission, the process was greatly catalysed, resulting in an almost immediate chain reaction as the fission materials reached critical mass almost instantly as soon as they made contact with N-waves.

"Charging N-wave cannon!" one of the junior officers responded.

"Damn those Zatin bastards." Natalise cursed over the radio. "We're so understaffed and they attack us with a full squadron – with the promise of more to come."  
"Oi, oi," Kurt replied, "stop complaining. I'm more than enough for one squadron!" Ignoring their banter, Alex was more worried about a display that had come up. There had been a warning that his MS only had half an hour of operating time left as the Echo left the Argento's MS deck. The clock had kept ticking down, worrying Alex slightly as they entered battle with the ZAKU squadron. 10 minutes, 40.98 seconds.

As they moved forward, the ZAKUs noticed them and moved towards them. They flew forwards and maneuvered around the League MS, pelting them with beam fire. Alex brought up the Echo's beam shield, blocking the first shots and charging forward. The VMBR in the Echo's right hand, he flew forward, engaging the Echo Drive briefly and igniting a bayonet beam blade on the VMBR's end. It pierced a ZAKU's leg, and as Alex drove the large rifle through, the left arm took hold of a beam saber as it popped up out of the Echo's hip holster. He ignited the blade and used it to slice the ZAKU in two. However, the ZAKU did not go down, but merely flew away, its flight pack still intact. It continued firing at him.

07 minutes, 10.36 seconds.

Alex maneuvered the Echo, dodging the shots gracefully as it pivoted and spun, the VMBR spiting beam fire as it did. Alex had set it to beam machinegun mode, spraying fire as he did. This kept other MS away from him.

Kurt maneuvered around the ZAKU near him and blocked several shots from the ZAKU, before returning fire. The ZAKU brought up its beam shield, blocking Kurt's fire.  
"Damn shield!" Kurt cursed as he went up close, drawing the Crusader's beam saber and slicing for the ZAKU's shield arm. It blocked the beam saber and drew its weapon, a beam edged axe. Bringing the axe down on Kurt's MS, Kurt blocked it with his Crusader's shield. As the ZAKU raised the axe for another strike, Kurt saw that the axe had left a nasty cut in the shield. The ZAKU continued to bring the axe down on the Crusader's shield, slowly but surely destroying it, blocking Kurt's beam saber attacks with its beam shield as it continued to rain beam-edged blows on the shield. The shield finally gave out, the ZAKU slicing it in two as the axe carved down the shield, carving a furrow so deep that the axe had gone right through. As it did, it saw that Kurt had stopped fighting with his beam saber a little while ago, and had instead simply concentrated on blocking. The pilot saw with dread as the beam rifle hidden behind the damaged shield fired, blowing the ZAKU's head off, before Kurt finished it by drawing his beam saber and driving it into the ZAKU's abdomen, activating his thrusters and causing the Crusader to slice upwards, cutting a line that seemed to split the ZAKU in half. As his blade cleared the ZAKU, Kurt sped off to help Natalise.

"Status!" van Kurrel called to another officer, as he was leaning forward in his seat.  
"Captain! Dr. Fa reports that she has more wounded coming in!" the comms officer replied. Van Kurrel leaned forward, observing the MS battle happening dangerously close to the Argento.  
"Status of the MS battle?" van Kurrel snapped.  
"Proceeding well." Another comms officer replied. "The Echo and Kurt's unit have each taken out a ZAKU. The odds are a little more even now."   
"Good." Van Kurrel sat back in his chair. "Janelle! Status of the N-wave emitter!"   
"N-wave emitter charged as your orders and ready to fire at any time!" came the curt reply.   
"Good! Prepare to activate on my mark."

Vaan was astonished to see the League MS performing so well. One of their inferior Crusaders had actually destroyed a ZAKU, and the white MS had destroyed another one, before spraying suppression fire from that strange rifle it carried. He clenched his fists. The pilots of those ZAKUs had been comrades from the military academy. To be destroyed by such inferior units … Vaan's blood boiled.

06 minutes, 9.04 seconds.

Alex cursed as he sprayed fire, watching as the silver GOUF and the ZAKU flew away. He saw the GOUF fly towards him, and he switched the VMBR firing mode back to beam rifle, firing single shots as the rapidly approaching GOUF, which was covering its approach by saturating the area in front of it with beam fire from the shield beam-gatling gun. Natalise was fending off another ZAKU, dueling with it in close combat, before Kurt arrived on the scene, beam saber drawn. He slashed at the ZAKU, missing it.

In response, the ZAKU turned and sliced Kurt's shield into top and bottom halves. The top floated away, the rest still attached to the handle that connected the shield to the Crusader's hand. Kurt stabbed forward with the beam saber, missing the nimble ZAKU.  
"It'll take more than such amateurish moves to take me down!" Gorvik cried as his silver GOUF blocked the shots from the white MS with its assault shield and returned fire with his own beam minigun. He got in very close, activating the GOUF's signature weapon: the heat rod. It shot out like a moray eel's strke from the opening under the GOUF's right hand, lashing at the white MS. The white MS activated its beam shield as the GOUF's heat rod flew right through.

5 minutes, 42.00 seconds.

Alex panicked as he saw the silver GOUF's heat rod pass right through the Echo's beam shield. "Anti-beam coating …" he breathed, concentrating hard on dodging the other deadly strikes from the GOUF. There was an explosion behind the Echo and he turned his attention to it. Natalise's Crusader had had its arm blown off by this last ZAKU, and could only block the ZAKU's incoming shots.  
On top of that, the Crusader's shield was beginning to show signs of wear, looking very beat up and like it could only take a few more shots before it melted under the repeated fire, as the anti-beam coating was worn through. The ZAKU, sensing this, kept up a steady stream of fire at Natalise, while weaving and dodging to avoid the shots from Kurt's Crusader. This momentary diversion cost Alex dearly. The GOUF executed a cunning maneuver, wrapping its heat rod around the Echo's right forearm and then dragging it in close, the beam minigun at the ready.  
"Time to for you to go down!" Gorvik cried. He readied the beam minigun, and opened fire. Alex's eyes widened, and everything seemed to happen in slow motion. For an eternity, it seemed like he was frozen in time, but then he realized that the GOUF was moving in extremely slow motion. As it did, he reacted instinctively, activating the Echo Drive, and then having the Echo draw a beam saber with its left hand.   
As the Echo drew the beam saber, Alex drew up the beam saber, and drove it through the GOUF's head.

For Gorvik, everything seemed to happen in a flash. He had the white MS in his grasp and was about to destroy it with his signature strike, but then the white MS seemed to move in a blur, the after-images of the white MS's movement too real, yet unreal, and then, like a cobra, it had struck, driving the beam saber into the GOUF's head.   
This caused secondary explosions around the head, and Gorvik cursed as most of his display went down. The white MS kicked off the GOUF, and flew back.  
"Gorvik to Vaan." He radioed. Vaan's bespectacled face came up on the display.  
"Sir?" Vaan inquired, his attention returning to the fight at hand.  
"Make preparations in case we must withdraw." Gorvik said. Vaan nodded.

3 minutes, 10.07 seconds.

Vaan's ZAKU managed to blow off the Crusader's shield, before it drew its beam saber, ignited it, and prepared to use it to block incoming beam shots. The Crusader turned its head as another came forward, throwing its shield at the shieldless one threw its shield at the ZAKU. Evading it, Vaan returned his attention to see the two now working together, the shieldless one concentrating on blocking shots while the other one was behind it, firing at the ZAKU from behind the shield.

"How are we doing on weaponry, mister Kranz?" Van Kurrel called. Gunter gave him a gloomy look.  
"Not good. We need zat resupply very badly. Missiles down to six per tube, machinegun turrets down to their last boxes of four hundred rounds, and the MS weaponry will all need to be replaced. Especially the Crusader shields."  
"Captain! It seems like the enemy MS are preparing to break off!" Janelle called from Gunnery control.

1 minute 50.76 seconds.

The Echo and the GOUF continued to duel, exchanging unequal blows. The Echo, after several hits from the heat rod, finally wised up and activated the VMBR shield, blocking a hit from the heat rod before returning with a riposte that would have cut the silver GOUF in two. The GOUF fell back a little, covering its fallback with beam minigun fire.

1minute 39.91 seconds.

Vaan cursed as his ZAKU was hit in the leg, rendering a portion of its maneuverability down. A warning message came up that secondary explosions could be ignited at any time. Vaan cursed again, and pressed the message read button, causing the ZAKU's leg to come off. They continued to exchange fire with each other. 1 minute, 25.63 seconds.

Alex pursued the silver GOUF, beam saber drawn as he flew towards it, the VMBR folded up into a shield. A deluge of shots came the Echo's way from the silver GOUF, and a warning message came up on the Echo's display warning that the VMBR shield was beginning to overheat. Cursing again, he glanced quickly at the timer before pulling the Echo back, firing in beam machinegun mode.  
He noticed now that the timer jumped when he did something unexpected and power-hungry, such as activating the Echo Drive or the beam shield. Finally giving up on trying to take it down, Alex switched to beam cannon mode, setting it to high power. Cooling vents on the VMBR opened up, the barrel widening as it hummed and charged up.  
Watching the display carefully, as soon as the charge reading hit 95, Alex readied himself to fire. When it hit 99, he depressed the trigger. The MS fired as the charge just reached 100. The VMBR hummed, and then suddenly released a large blast of energy. The silver GOUF deftly dodged the shot, boosting out of the way. The force of the blast helped propel the Echo backwards, and Alex used this momentary distraction to transform the Echo into mobile armour mode and fly off, engaging the Echo Drive.

23.87 seconds.

Kurt's voice crackled as it came over the radio.  
"Argento! Prepare to make a fighting withdrawal! We can shake these guys! Once we get back, we'll have to move as fast as possible!"  
"Roger that, Linch." Van Kurrel replied. He activated the MS deck intercom.  
"Attention mobile suit deck! Prepare to receive damaged mobile suits!" He then activated the shipwide PA system.  
"All hands! Prepare for anti-MS battle!"

Natalise and Kurt made their way back to the Argento, Natalise's almost totaled Crusader not doing much more than hindering Kurt as he exchanged fire with Vaan's ZAKU, which by now was down to its last clip. Kurt finally managed to strike the ZAKU's beam rifle, causing it to blow up in the ZAKU's hands.

"Crap! He's closing in!" Alex cursed again, as he saw the rear display light up with the shape of the silver GOUF. Looking at the power indicator and timer, he knew that activating the Echo Drive was too risky. Alex decided to take a risk, as he saw the silver GOUF getting closer and closer.  
Activating the Echo Drive, the Echo sped off away from the GOUF. Alex watched the timer with great trepidation as the Echo sped back towards the Argento.  
30.91 …  
19.87 …  
10.00 …  
9.63 …  
8.76 …  
4.33 …  
2.11 …  
1.09 …  
0.00

The Echo powered down as the number hit 0, not moving. It floated there, dead in space.  
Gorvik smiled.  
"You're MINE!" The silver GOUF sped up, boosting forward at maximum thrust.

"Crap! Come on, move you piece of junk! Move!" he cried desperately, hitting the pilot display. As the silver GOUF closed in, he saw the Argento fly forward, all guns blazing at the two remaining, damaged ZATIN MS, forcing them back. Kurt's Crusader flew out from the MS hangar, taking hold of the Echo and bringing it back inside.

"Vaan! It's time to retreat! We can accomplish nothing more." Gorvik called over the radio.  
"But sir!" Vaan protested.  
"Don't be so hotheaded and in such a hurry to die." Gorvik replied, unfazed.  
"We're damaged, and low on ammunition. We have to return." Vaan grudgingly nodded.  
"Yes sir." He replied, loathing allowing these League terrorists to get away. Gorvik nodded, turning his silver GOUF around and flying back to their carrier.

Alex climbed out of the cockpit, drained and exhausted. He was greeted by Simar as he climbed out.  
"Hey, kid." Simar said gruffly.  
"The captain wants to see you on the bridge." Alex simply nodded, moving straight onto the elevator, all thought of escape for the moment banished from his head. He entered the bridge.  
"You wanted me?" he said tiredly.  
"Yes, I did." Van Kurrel replied.  
"What is it?" Alex asked a little warily.  
"After watching your performance out there, there is no doubt. I want you to pilot the Echo." Van Kurrel said.  
"I … what!" Alex was taken aback by this proposal. He narrowed his eyes.  
"Why?"  
"You have the most experience with the Echo. Simple as that. Plus, you seem to be able to bring out more of its potential." Van Kurrel replied.  
"And if I say no?" Alex asked, wondering what kind of Faustian deal he would be striking.  
"We keep you and your friends here indefinitely." Van Kurrel replied matter-of-factly.  
"And once we return, I can't guarantee their safety if they leave my authority. I'm sure you've heard of the beheadings that have been happening in some of the more … unstable regions."  
Alex stood there, stunned by the threat.  
"In that case, I'll agree … on one condition."  
"What's that?"  
"Let my friends go." Van Kurrel sat back and pondered this for a moment.   
"I can't do that." As Alex frowned and opened his mouth to say no, he added something.   
"I can however, allow them free run of the ship. They'll have to work though – we're understaffed and need all the crew we can get. Will that be satisfactory to you?" Alex nodded.  
"Good. I'll call Dr. Fa up here to deal with your room allocations." Alex turned and walked from the bridge.  
"One last thing." Van Kurrel called from the bridge.  
"In future, you will refer to me as captain." Alex turned.  
"Yes, captain."


	5. Chapter 04: Its name is Myrmidon

**8:57am, January 12th CT 0203**

Makoto sighed. She poured the serving out onto the soldier's serving tray and waited for him to shuffle off and for the next one to come on. She absently poured out a serve for him as well. Why oh why did she have to get mess hall duty? The crew and soldiers constantly came into the mess hall in a bad mood, and frequently left in an even worse mood than when they had entered the room. They also had rather uneasy looks on their faces as they got their food from the buffet and from her. As the last soldier shuffled off, she decided to have a taste of what she was serving. Swirling the stuff in the pot for a while, she dipped in her finger and then put it in her mouth. As soon as she started sucking on that finger, she whipped it out of the mouth, coughing and sputtering a little. The stuff was as foul as the diners' moods.

"No wonder they leave in an even worse mood." Makoto muttered to herself. She sighed again. She had to get this job, of all the positions available on the ship. Aya had managed to secure herself a position on the bridge, as had Henry, Iain and Jon. Bob and Alex were both constantly in the MS hangar, where Bob seemed to be in heaven, working on the Echo, and for the last week or so, they had been under hot pursuit by the ZATIN taskforce sent out after them (Alex intermittently sortieing in the Echo to deal with them, along with Kurt in his Crusader), and only two days ago had they been able to shake them.

Because it had been let slip (by Alex's big mouth) that Makoto was a good cook, she had been assigned mess hall duty. Yet, she was under orders to simply serve what was already there. The food was very bad. It was bland and tasteless, but in a way that would leave any diner crawling for the nearest stomach pump. She pursed her lips. No wonder the World League was so infamous for suicide bombings. People would do almost anything to get away from bad food like this.

Makoto grinned. It was obvious what she had to do. If she was going to be stuck on this ship indefinitely, she might as well make the best of the situation. Rolling up her sleeves and dusting her apron, she took a piece of cardboard and scribbled on it. Placing it on the front of the buffet, she began covering all the food trays and taking the pot of gruel away and pouring it down the sink. Eventually, soldiers began to notice that despite the early hour, food wasn't being served.

"Hey, what's the meaning of this?" one of the soldiers exclaimed, seeing her sign and the empty buffets.  
"Exactly what it means." Makoto replied nonchalantly as she selected spices from the shelves.  
"What do you mean "Closed. Come Back Later?" Some of us haven't eaten yet!" another said a little angrily.  
"Then you won't die of hunger waiting a little longer. I'm going to cook up something so good it'll be like your mother cooked it." Makoto said, greeting the crowd of soldiers with a smile as she marched over and rummaged under the counter for some kitchen utensils. She stood up, a rolling pin in her hand.  
"Come back later. Now go on, shoo. I have cooking to do." Makoto said matter-of-factly. The crowd of soldiers and crewmen slowly dispersed, shuffling out of the mess hall muttering.

"I can't believe that guy!" Iain complained, exasperated as he entered the mess hall.  
"It seemed like it'd last forever!" Jon nodded.  
"Running that damn simulation over and over again until we got a perfect score." He sighed ruefully.  
"I just hope he doesn't get worse."  
"Yeah, those ZAKUs are much more agile than I thought they'd be … it's like trying to hit someone who's bunny-hopping." Iain threw his hands up in the air.  
"But remember? You managed to get four out of six first time." Jon said, placing his hand on Iain's shoulder.  
"I only got one."  
"But that's beginners luck! They were practically lined up for that shot. Those turrets that Gunnery's supposed to control are a damn sight clunkier than anything I've seen!" Iain protested.  
"You're right about that though. It took mine seemingly forever to move from one side to the other." Jon replied. Iain looked around.  
"Hey!" he called.  
"Anyone around?" Makoto stuck her head out of the kitchen.  
"I told you, come back la-" she began, before realising that it was Iain and Jon.  
"Sorry."   
"Apology accepted. Now what ARE you doing?" Iain said to her. Vapours were wafting out of the kitchen.  
"I'm cooking." Makoto replied, ducking back into the kitchen.   
"Cooking?" Jon inquired.  
"Yeah. Come back later, and you'll find something nice and tasty waiting for lunch. If you're hungry now, help yourself to some fruit in the basket." Makoto replied from the kitchen. Jon glanced at Iain, who shrugged. They helped themselves to some fruit from the fruit basket sitting on the counter, before leaving the room.

"Man, I'm tired!" Tim said, stretching as he entered the mess hall. He looked around. The mess hall was empty. "Great! More food for me!" He clutched his head suddenly as Bob came up behind him and entered the room. "Ow! Bob! What was that for!" he asked indignantly.   
"You should learn to shut up." Bob replied. His hand was balled into a fist. "I've had it almost up to here with you going on about how you're going to land Alex's sister and what you're gonna do to her. It's disturbing, the things you say you're gonna do."  
"It's like he likes to read rather …" Henry coughed as he searched for an appropriate word. "Dubious material." Henry entered the room behind the other two.  
"So you managed to catch up with us, Henry." Bob remarked. He glanced at the buffet.  
"I can see why the hall's empty. No food!" Tim laughed.  
"I know how to solve this!" he said, brimming with confidence. He took a deep breath.  
"Makoto! Where are you! We're hungry! Where's our food!" he yelled into the empty mess hall. There was no answer. Tim turned back to the other two. He spread his arms.  
"Now we play the waiting game." He didn't have to wait long, as an irate Makoto snuck up behind him and smacked him on the head.  
"Ouch! That's twice today I've been hit on the head! What are you doing!" Tim complained to Makoto. She wore an expression that stated that she wasn't to be toyed with.  
"I've been cooking! Now you won't get a taste at all, for being impolite." Makoto replied, turning and storming back to the kitchen.  
"Geez … what's her problem?" Tim said to Bob and Henry. Bob shrugged.   
"Beats me." He replied.  
"She doesn't like people yelling when she's cooking." Henry explained. Tim shrugged.  
"Hmph. It's not like I want to taste her-" he began, before Henry shushed him up. When Henry stopped, Tim was perplexed.  
"What's wrong?"  
"Don't insult her cooking." Henry replied, in a whisper.  
"She doesn't like it when people insult her cooking before they've tasted it."  
"So? What's the big deal? And why are you whispering?" Tim asked again, still confused.  
"She can get very scary if you insult her cooking. Believe me. I've seen it." Henry replied. His body language was screaming "don't tempt fate."  
"Just what does she do, anyways?" Tim asked him. Henry laughed.  
"Well, when we were younger, Alex insulted Makoto's cooking by accident. She chased him around the whole day with a rolling pin. Alex ended up hiding in a tree because he knew Makoto couldn't climb trees very well with an apron on." Henry replied.  
"This was when we were much younger. I imagine that it would only get worse as she got older." Tim stretched.  
"So what's with the captain anyways?" he whined, looking around the room for some food.  
"He's not saying much." Henry replied. "But I overheard on the communications that we're going to go to the Lunar Union." Tim did a double-take.  
"The Lunar Union? But I thought that they were all wimps!" Tim exclaimed. Henry chuckled at this remark.  
"They're far from wimps." He replied. "Just because some of the city-states didn't want to support ZATIN in their invasion of Pan Arabia doesn't mean they're wimps. In fact, I applaud Von Braun and Parye for leading the charge in opposing that blockhead that we call President."  
Bob sighed.  
"Here we go again." He groaned. Tim ignored him and launched into a tirade.   
"President Schrabb may have his own faults, but I think he's doing a fine job running ZATIN." Tim argued back.  
"We are more secure than ever, since the Great Wipe. A sense of nationalism is uniting all the peoples within ZATIN together! Our economy is really improving and expanding too!" Henry laughed.   
"That's because ZATIN's economy has shifted into war production, ever since the Great Wipe. The Earth Crusade to exterminate the League has improved the economy greatly, because the biggest customer in ZATIN is buying up as much as it can: the government." Henry replied, wagging his finger.  
"President Schrabb is an idiot. Look at his recent stories. He accidentally called his vice president Wag, which is the name of his dog, among other things. I really don't approve of his "Cowboy politics" approach to Earthsphere politics. He's alienated most of the Lunar Union, the member states of the Earth Treaty Organisation don't particularly like ZATIN much anymore, particularly powerful states like Ruskovy or Asia Orienta." Tim opened his mouth to respond to Henry's argument, but then Bob cut in.  
"If there's no food here, and you two don't want to upset Makoto, I think it's best we leave. That way I can get back to the MS deck and out of earshot of the arguments of you two about ZATIN's administration." Bob said, frustrated. He lead the other two out of the mess hall.

The door to the mess hall opened again, and this time, Alex came in with Aya. Alex took a good sniff of the smell wafting out from the kitchen.  
"Hey!" he called loudly. Makoto stuck her head out of the kitchen again. "What is it … oh, it's you two." She said, coming out of the kitchen bearing a large plate of sandwiches.  
"Could you move that buffet please? I need the space." Alex nodded and went and after some heaving, shifted the buffet away, placing it on the ground at the end of the counter. Makoto then set down the plate of sandwiches.  
"What's cookin', good lookin'?" Alex inquired flirtatiously, with an impish grin on his face.  
"Oh, stop that you."Makoto replied good-naturedly, smiling a little.   
"I've been cooking."   
"That much I can see." Aya replied. She took a look at the sandwiches. "They don't look like much." She ventured cautiously. Makoto sighed.  
"I didn't have much to work with. I swear, there was only four days' worth of food left when I last checked. And that's not counting that … vomit I was supposed to serve." Makoto complained. She brightened up.  
"But even with that, I think I made some real treasures. Come on, try one." Alex didn't hesitate in picking one up and biting into it.   
"Mm …" he murmured, chewing carefully on the sandwich.  
"Turkey, lettuce and tomato. The mayonnaise is quite nice …" he smacked his lips as he wolfed down the last of the sandwich.  
"Delicious!" he declared. Aya followed suit and tried munching on one.  
"Ham, cheese, lettuce …" she commented as she munched on the sandwich.   
"It tastes great!"   
"Glad you like it!" Makoto said happily, delighted.  
"Careful then," Alex warned playfully.  
"If it's too good, they might make you stay!" That elicited a glare from Makoto.  
"Go on, help yourselves – there are more waiting in the kitchen." Makoto replied.  
"Cooking for four hours straight … it really takes it out of you." She sat down, heaving a sigh of weariness. The two of them obliged, helping themselves to more of Makoto's sandwiches.  
"Mm … thethe aa gurey!" Alex said with his mouth full.  
"Alex!" Aya said sharply.  
"Don't talk with your mouth full. We don't want you getting chewed up sandwich all Makoto!" Alex swallowed his mouthful.  
"Sorry." he replied.  
"It's just that I'm so hungry after working with the Echo all morning."   
"What on earth do you do with that thing every day, anyways?" Aya inquired, indignant. He had been spending so much time with the Echo that the only time the whole group got together was when they were going into their rooms to sleep.  
"Lots of stuff." Alex replied. "Maintenance, familiarising myself with it, training in it, and fighting off ZATIN pursuers. Fighting off ZATIN is the most time consuming one. And damn the Pervert." He ended, cursing.

The Pervert was their nickname for Kurt. Having heard stories about him from the female crew on the Argento, they had almost caught numerous times trying to get into the Aya and Makoto's rooms, and trying to look down their shirt. Alex pursed his lips.  
"I swear … he must have girls on the brain." Aya gave Alex a suspicious glance.  
"All men do, dear brother." She replied sharply. Alex laughed.  
"Of course … some more than others." Makoto got up and went back into the kitchen, returning with a large plate of sandwiches.  
"I think it's about time that I announce lunch." She declared. Soon, the mess hall was filled with happy crewmembers, dining on the best meal they have had in weeks.

**3:43pm, January 12th, CT 0203**

"So that's the new model mobile suit that ZATIN has cranked out?" Vaan remarked to Gorvik as they watched it being unloaded from the supply ship. Gorvik nodded.  
"That's right, corporal. This information has just been cleared." He said, looking down at the clipboard.  
"Shortly after the Great Wipe, when it was found that mobile suits would once again become dominant, ZATIN chartered Colonial Aerospace to construct for them a prototype high performance mobile suit that would blow all existing mobile suits out of the water."  
"Colonial Aerospace? Don't they build ZAKUs and GOUFs?" Vaan replied. Gorik nodded. Vaan gave another glance at this MS. It had a head like that of an old samurai war helm, with a three-point crown.  
"They were secretly building this new MS at Neo Lockheed under this commission, codenamed Project Gundam – but then the League managed to infiltrate it, and captured the facility for a short period of time. I imagine you remember the siege at Neo Lockheed last year?" Vaan nodded.  
"That prototype mobile suit was what the League was after." Gorvik replied, tapping his mask.  
"It had a new propulsion system that allowed it to excel at mobile suit dogfights. They stole it and the designs, completing it after the siege." Vaan was silent, looking at this new mobile suit.  
"So what's that got to do with this one then?" he asked the Silver Face.  
"They were able to recover the data from Project Gundam, and they decided to continue with it, this time designing a counter-unit to the one that was stolen."  
"So who's the designated pilot, sir?" Vaan asked, his eyes sparkling with a desire to try this new MS.  
"Let's see …" Gorvik replied. He glanced at the clipboard again.  
"I was the designated pilot, but after a test run, I much prefer my GOUF to this new toy. Since you have almost as much experience as I do engaging the League's stolen mobile suit, I asked that you be made the designated pilot." Vaan's eyes lit up like a child's on Christmas morning.  
"So … I'm piloting that new mobile suit?" Vaan inquired. Gorvik nodded. Just then, alarm klaxons went off.  
"Attention all hands!" the voice came over the intercom.  
"We have found the League ship! All mobile suit pilots to the hangar and prepare to launch!" The two of them dashed off, Vaan to the new MS, while Gorvik returned to his GOUF.

Sitting in the cockpit, a 360 degree panoramic monitor-linear seat combo like in the ZAKU, Vaan powered up the new MS. The welcome screen came up.

PROJECT GUNDAM   
COLONIAL AEROSPACE INC.   
EXPERIMENTAL MOBILE SUIT

ZMS-X17 MYRMIDON

"Myrmidon?" Vaan muttered to himself.  
"So that's your name." He took the Myrmidon over to the launch catapult.  
"James Vaan, Myrmidon, launching!" he called. The Myrmidon was propelled out into space, its white, dark blue, and green shape shortly followed by Gorvik's silver GOUF.

As they approached the Argento, they saw it launching its own MS. The Myrmidon's data came up as the white MS from the Argento launched. "Echo, huh?" Vaan remarked. He maneuvered the Myrmidon and charged in at the Echo.  
"Let's see how you do against me!"


End file.
